It's Monday night and I'm watching "around the world in eighty days" with Rachel and Hannah as Christine is out. The weekend is now long gone, but it was good one !

Christine and I went to the "Scotland - All Blacks" rugby at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. We went with some work mates and started our day out at the Corstorphine Inn, (there is a review of this pub on the pub page), where we had a few drinks and some lunch.

Christine and me at the Corstorphine Inn

The gangs all here !!!

Later we moved on and headed to the Murrayfield hotel. We started to walk but ended up getting a bus as we wanted more time at the bar. When we got to the Murrayfield hotel there was no chance of getting to the bar as the place was absolutely packed ! Neil suggested we go to the bar at the Ice Rink so we moved on there.

The queue to the Bar at the Murrayfield Hotel

Neil, (on the right), at the bar in the Ice Rink

A couple of drinks later the time had come to get into the stadium. The ice rink is right next door so it took us all of 5 minutes to get in and find our seats. It was very cold day and the wind in the stadium didn't help, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. For me, the best part of the day was before the game started, when the crowd sang "Flower of Scotland".

Kate, inside the Stadium

After the game, (I don't want to tell you the score, too embarrasing), we all went our separate ways. Christine and me headed into the center of town, walking up the main road surrounded by thousands of other supporters. We went to one of my favorite bars in Edinburgh, Teuchters in William Street, (there is a review on the pub page of the web site). It was packed ! we had to try a few rugby tackles to get to the bar, but it was worth it.

Teuchters

A little later we wanted a quieter pub so we moved onto The Oxford Bar. This is an old traditional Edinburgh pub that was made famous by the Inspector Rebus books, (written by Ian Rankin). We stayed there for a while and talked to some of the locals and had a few laughs then hunger kicked in and we moved on. I'd show you a few photo's of this bar but I forgot to take some, sorry.

We went to All Bar One on George street and had a meal, it's an OK pub with reasonable food which we enjoyed. We were lucky to get a table as it was very busy but the service was still quick and friendly.

After the meal we headed home via the bus, running along Princess Street to catch a No 22 !!

A great day, which was followed on Sunday by my birthday and a family get together at home.

Roll on next weekend and the next adventure !!! See you there - Alastair

Its a bright but cold Wednesday morning in my home town of Broxburn, which is located in the central belt of Scotland in between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

I've just taken my two daughters, Hannah (7) and Rachel (9) to school. We should have been there with plenty of time to spare, but because of the usual last minute finding of gloves and arguments over who carries what we got there just as the bell was ringing. My wife, Christine, who is a primary school teacher is already at work and I'm also trying to get out of the front door and get to work, but, the main thought I have right at this moment is :-

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend !

I have two tickets for the "Scotland - All Blacks" rugby at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday. There are ten of us going, Christine, myself and some friends from work. Rachel and Hannah are going to a friends house for a sleep over which gives us a whole day and night to enjoy ourselves !! I have some great pubs in mind that I want to go to, I'll be wearing the Kilt, drinking some excellent whisky and soaking up the atmosphere at the stadium. Then I will share it all with you ! Look out for the blog, which will hopefully have some great pictures, and if I get my act together, a few short video's.